Friends growing who did idiotic things

Friends growing who did idiotic things

A friend of mine, Bob W., constantly did things which put him in a position of getting his azz kicked. He wasn't small but he was completely un coordinated. There was a huge Black man who was mute, he worked at our local Rec Center as a groundskeeper, we called him Pahoo, we liked him a lot, thing is, he always wore athe same hat, never took it off, EVER, ole Bob decides to take it off for him, Pahoo slapped Bob SO hard I'll bet he rolled 40 feet. One time in a bar on Wisconsin Ave. in DC, "Maggies", a big Redskin hangout, we were there after a Skins win, this was around 1966, bunch of skins there, Vince Promuto, a tough offensive lineman, comes walking by, Bob jumps up, fairly well buzzed, and keeps slapping Promuto on the back saying "great game Vince, great game", we tell Bob to stop it but Bob thinks Vince is impressed so he continues his greetings, after the 4th or 5th time, Promuto backhands Bob accross the mouth, almost sending him thru the wall and says "get off my back kid", lucky he kept all his teeth. Another time in Bethesda, a Cab driver, in his late 60's cuts Bob off with us in his car. we get to a stoplight Bob jumps out confronts the guy about how he's going to kick his azz, we had to pry the guy off Bob, as he was being choked to death on the Cabs hood. Bob still doesn't get it. Got any friends like Bob?

Well, there was Pooh Connoly who used to love to find the biggest kid from another part of town and walk up to him and tell him how his buddies were going to beat the crap out of him and his friends. And then Pooh would take a swing at the guy and the fight would be on. Except for Pooh, of course. After taking the swing, whether he connected or not, Pooh would disappear leaving us to have to fight off the horde.

Angie Tomasselli, on the other hand, never picked on anyone but cops. Angie used to carry rocks in his pocket, and after a game of football on the lot across from the police precinct in our neighborhood he'd toss a couple at the precinct's windows and take off like a bat out of hell. When the cops came tumbling out of the building there we'd be.

My mother knew all the officers in the precinct by name. That was because she'd invite whichever one dragged me home that day to come into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

The only thing that saved us all a lifetime of incarcertation was the fact that Tommy LaFrenier was always with us, and his father happened to be an assistant chief of police.